


Close to Home

by slash4femme



Series: Something Like Family [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Fluff, Gai-centric, Gen, Neji-centric, Team Bonding, Team Fluff, Team Gai - Freeform, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 16:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slash4femme/pseuds/slash4femme
Summary: After joining Team Gai Neji finds a safe place to be.





	Close to Home

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write a story where Gai and Neji bonded. I always felt like their relationship with each other was under-represented in canon. I also wanted to write a fic about Team Gai being a family. 
> 
> This story takes place before the first Chunin Exams story arc when Team Gai is relatively new and Lee, Neji and Tenten are around twelve-thirteen. 
> 
> There is a tiny bit of Kakashi/Gai going on here, but I didn't feel like it was enough to tag.

I.

Neji doesn't feel the pain but when he looks down both of his hands are a mess of bruises, scrapes and cuts and the practice post is leaning to the side at a dangerous angle, as if it's about the fall over.

He takes several deep breaths, steps back to the first stance of the Gentle Fist and goes through the forms.

All his rage, frustration and grief seems to leech out of his with every strike, every hit.

It feels good, it feels like success to make the practice post tip further and further over, until chips of wood spray out in every direction when his palm connects.  

There's sweat sticking his hair to the back of his neck and running down his face by the times he's done, getting into his eyes.

His chest burns with every breath, the pain in his legs has moved from a burning ache to a stabbing pain in his thighs.

His arms feel like they're made of lead and are shaking so badly that when he slips and falls he almost doesn't catch himself in time and comes close to face planting into the dirt of the practice grounds.

He stays on his hands and knees shaking and gasping for air. Truly unsure if he's going to be able to stand up and walk back to the Hyuga clan compound in the condition he's in.

Not that he has a choice.

There's the rustle of leave and then a heavy step behind him.

Neji stays where he is staring down at where his own knuckles have split, blood running between his fingers. He doesn't need to see who it is in any case, he already knows.

Strong arms wrap around him and haul him up.

"You know my students dedication to training never ceases to amazing me." Gai says. "Truly I have the hardest working team in the entire village."

Neji doesn't reply because he doesn't have the energy. He just lets Gai support him with an arm around his shoulders and guide him back down the path towards Konoha.

Gai will take him back the Hyuga clan compound, then Neji can take a shower, bandage his hands and to bed.  

It takes him longer than it should to realize that they are not going back to the Hyuga compound.

Instead, they wind up on the top floor of an apartment building Neji knows houses mostly jounin and chunin ninja. By the time Gai unlocks the front door it's too late for Neji to think of a good way to get out of it so he lets Gai haul him into the apartment.

It's ... not what Neji is expecting inside.

Homey is the first word that jumps to mind. Everything in the apartment is old, battered and well used. The couch sags, the tables are scarred, there's an ancient looking tv Neji isn't even sure could still work sitting in the corner across from the couch. Everything is also a lot tidier than Neji was expecting. Meticulously clean and orderly even if there's too much stuff for it to truly look anything but cluttered.

Nothing like the traditional austereness of the spaces Neji is used to.  

The couch has mismatching throw pillows and there's a set of dumbbells in one corner and a bookcase with books on taijutsu, military history and battered romance novels, of all things. He squints at the bookcase trying to decide if Gai's actually read _His Hidden Desires_ or _The_ _Samurai Daughter's Passion_. Obviously, someone has, none of the books are new and all of them are dog-eared, the spines creased where they've been opened and reopened.

Gai sits him on the couch and bustles out of the room, coming back a minute later with a first aid kit and a few rolls of bandages.

He sets his supplies on the coffee table and kneels in front of the couch taking Neji's hands in his own.

His movements are practiced and soothing, almost professional as he cleans the cuts and scrapes across Neji's knuckles and palms.

When he's done he picks up a small pot of obviously homemade salve and rubs a generous amount between his hands before gripping Neji's arm firmly.

It is not a gentle massage. Gai's thumbs dig into sore muscles and press across bruised skin hard enough to make Neji hiss between his teeth before he can swallow the noise down.

"Better blood circulation will help you heal faster." Gai gives him a small sympathetic smile that says he knows how much it hurts but he's going to do it anyway. He works his way from Neji's hand to his wrist and up his arm to the short sleeve of his shirt and then back down before starting on the other arm.

"You know, you should wrap both your hands when you train." He says voice conversational and a lot lower in volume than Neji's used to. "It will protect them better from this level of insignificant damage."

He picks up a roll of bandage and studies Neji's hands and arms.

"A little above the elbow I think." Gai presses the bandages firmly to Neji's biceps and start wrapping in a smooth practiced motion that's probably pure muscle memory at this point.

"That's how I used to wear them too, when I was just about your age." Gai says tone absent and a little fond.

He wraps Neji''s arms down to the fingers as Neji watches, then sits back on his heels.  

"How does that feel?" He asks "Good? Flex your fingers for me, bend your wrists, and your elbows. Tell me if they're too tight."

Neji flexes on command and his eyes widen. Then he really moves his hands, fingers and arms experimentally. He can feel the wrappings but they don't restrict his movements as all if anything they feeling grounding, as if he's now hyper aware of every tiny motion in the muscles and ligaments in his arms and hands.

He clears his throat. "They aren't too tight."

"Good." Gai beams at him and pushes himself to his feet. "Stay there a moment."

Neji still isn't sure he can move so he does as Gai says and sits on the couch, listening to Gai go into the next room. There's the clatter of dishes so it must be the kitchen and Neji wonders if he should get up and stop whatever is going on in there.

But it's only a moment before Gai's back, pushing a large mug into Neji's hands. The mug has smiling cartoon bear faces painted on it and a large chip out of the rim on one side.    

Neji takes a sip of scalding hot ginger tea and tries not to gag it back up.

"Drink it." Gai says encouragingly. "It will help."

 _Help with what?_ Neji wants to ask but instead he takes another sip. It's sweeter than he enjoys drinking is tea too. For a moment he debates trying to get rid of it somehow but Gai has no convenient placed potted plants to tip it into.

He sets his jaw and reminds himself that he is a shinobi, which sometimes means doing unpleasant things and that Gai is also his sensei. He drinks the rest of the tea as Gai watches, hands on hips and making encouraging noises whenever Neji resolve wavers.

When he's finished he does feel, strangely, better. Warm and a bit more relaxed, his muscles starting to loosen and unwind, the spicy taste of ginger still lingering on his tongue.

Gai takes the cup back into the kitchen and Neji lets his head tip back against the couch, eyes falling shut.

"Neji?" Gai calls from the other room. "Are you hungry, do you want dinner?"

That makes Neji jerk upright, body tensing again. He blinks and realizes to his horror he'd been falling asleep.

Bracing his hands on the coffee table he forces himself to stand.

"No thank you Gai-sensei I was just leaving." He says in his strongest, firmest voice.

Gai comes to stand in the doorway between the living room and kitchen, drying off the mug on a bright green dishcloth, eyebrows pulled together in puzzlement.

"Neji it's fine, there's plenty of food for the both of us."

Neji shakes his head. "I need to get back."

He walks to the door before Gai can stop him, pulls it open and steps out into the hall.

Gai says something but Neji doesn't stop to hear what it is, just keeps walking, gaze straight ahead all the way down the stairs and out onto the street.

He doesn't stop until he gets to the Hyuga clan compound.

 

II.

Neji hates it. He hates all of it. The anger and the grief that smothers and chokes him until he can't breath. He hates the Hyuga clan compound. Hates Hiashi and how his gaze always skips over Neji like he's not even there, not even important enough to see let alone acknowledge or speak to. He hates the way the family whispers and gossips about him the way Hinata gives him sad, pitying looks from down cast eyes when she thinks he can't see her do it. Hates all of it, the entire Hyuga clan, until it feels like he's nothing but hate and pain jumbled together and ready to burst out from under his skin.   

He goes to the practice field and beats the posts until there is nothing but splintered wood and he's bleeding freely from his hands and arms.

He falls to his knees finally, arms wrapped around himself, smearing blood across his shirt. He doesn't cry or scream, he can't. All of it seems to be lodged inside him without any chance of release until all he can do is pant in big ragged gasps each one feeling like a knife twisting inside his chest.

He gets up finally and starts walking.

He walks around Konoha until the sun goes down and the stars come out. Walks until shops start closing and even residents who enjoy staying out late start going home.

He knows he needs to find somewhere to go. The shinobi on night watch will come collect him if he stays out much later.

As much as he doesn't want to go back to the Hyuga clan compound he wants to be forcibly dragged there by some chunin night guard even less.   

He doesn't let himself think about where he's going, he just goes until he's standing in front of Gai's apartment, knocking on the door.

Gai opens the door after only a few knocks.

"Neji?" He squints down through the dark.

Neji suddenly can't think of anything to say, just huddles down into himself more.

"Right." Gai says sounding firm and determined. The next thing Neji knows he's being tugged into Gai's living room.

He sits on the couch while Gai hovers over him.

"It looks like your hands need attention again." Gai leaves and comes back with the first aid kit.  

"Are you alright?" He asks as he picks pieces of Neji's old hand wrappings out of his training inflicted wounds. His voice softer than Neji thought Gai was capable of.  

Neji stares at him, at a loss for what to say, a way to expression how very not alright it is.

"No."

Gai opens his mouth to say something, interrupted by a door opening further down the hall and the sound of footsteps.

Neji tenses, ready to bolt back out of the apartment and into the night. Gai's grip on his wrist tightens for a fraction of a second.

"Gai-sensei?"

Lee stands in the living room doorway, hair a tousled mess, wearing only green pajama bottoms. His eyes go wide when he sees Neji sitting on the couch with Gai kneeling in front of him, first aid kit open on the floor, bloody bandages scattered everywhere.

"Neji?"

"Neji just stopped by for a little chat Lee." Gai says without turning, gaze still locked on Neji. "Go back to bed now."

For a moment Neji thinks Lee will argue. His gaze goes from Neji to Gai and then back. Then he nods and turns going back down the hall and Neji listens to the sound of a bedroom door closing.

Neji relaxes a fraction.

Gai stays on his knees looking at Neji expression concerned. Then he stands and starts gathering up the first aid supplies and dirty bandages.

"It's late and the Hyuga clan has a curfew for the people who live in the compound, don't' they?"

"Yes." Neji stairs down at the new clean bandages around his fingers.

"Nothing for it then." Gai says like he's come to some decision.

He leaves and comes back a few moments later arms full of bedding.

"No." Neji says when he sees him.

"Yes." Gai says in a tone that means there will be no arguing with this decision. "Besides this couch might be old but it's comfortable and has been the resting place of many a weary shinobi. He thumps the back of it affectionately making the entire thing shake and groan underneath Neji.

He drops the blanket and pillow onto the couch next to Neji.

The blanket is worn but still looks plenty thick. The pillow case for the pillow has tiny turtles on it.

Neji stares at them like they might be boobytrapped but it's not like he has anywhere else to go.

He reaches out slowly, picks up the blanket, feeling how soft it is against his hands.

"I also brought you this." Gai holds out a folded dark green t-shirt.

Neji hesitates but then takes that too.

Gai yawns hugely, "Get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning if you want."

He turns and heads back down the hall. Neji listens until he hears Gai's bedroom door close then takes off his bloody shirt, his sandals, and headband.

The t-shirt is large enough on him that it must be Gai's even though Neji has never seen him wear one before. It smells like Gai too and is soft with age. Neji pulls it on then crawls under the blanket and lets the exhaustion take him.

 

~~~

He wakes to clattering coming from the kitchen and Gai humming enthusiastically but completely off key.

Neji opens his eyes and rolls over to find Lee standing watching him a steaming mug in his hand.

He smiles when he sees Neji is awake.

"Goodmorning Neji."

Lee puts the mug down on the coffee table as Neji sits up.

"Breakfast should be done soon and the bathroom is at the end of the hall if you want to take a shower. There should also be clean towels and washcloths for you to use and -- "

He hesitated eyeing Neji's odd and now thoroughly slept in t-shirt and pants and, ridiculously, blushes. "You can borrow some of my clothes if you want."  

"No thank you, Lee." Neji picks up the mug and takes a sip. Green tea this time, and blessedly unsweetened. He takes another much larger sip and then sets the cup aside and goes to take a shower.

By the time he comes out, trying to finger-comb his hair as best he can Lee is already at the table and Tenten is there too, dressed for training but also covering a yawn behind her hand. Neji eyes her as he takes his own place at the kitchen table, wondering if she spent the night here as well or just comes over for breakfast for some strange reason.

Gai is fully dressed in green jumpsuit and legs warmers but is also wearing a ridiculously frilly, floral apron as he spoons rice and eggs into bowls for the three of them, topping each with slices of grilled ham.

Much like with the mugs none of the bowls match. They all seem to be brightly colored, many of them are painted with cute little designs and most of them also look like they've been dropped at least once.

Gai has some of the best reflexes of any shinobi in Konoha. Neji doesn't understand why all the dishes he owns look like they've been through a war.

The bowl, piled high with rice and eggs Gai puts in front of him has little ducks on it and also a small chip on one side.

"Eat." Gai instructs them all, his voice booming off the walls of the tiny crowded kitchen. "We have much youthful training to do today. I have decided that you will all learn the art of fighting with nunchaku. Yes even you Neji." Gai waggles the rice spoon at him even though Neji hadn't said anything yet. "It will be excellent training for all of you."

"Yes, Gai-sensei. I cannot wait to learn to fight with nunchaku." Lee begins inhaling his food at a speed that is frankly terrifying to watch.    

Tenten's eyes are also shining as she tucks into her breakfast.

Neji looks down at his own bowl for a moment and then picks up his chopsticks. Gai-sensei is probably right, learning to fight with weapons is a vital part of taijutsu and would only make Neji a stronger shinobi. Still, he has a feel that in this lesson at least both of his teammates will, for once, have an advantage over him.

 

III.

It isn't an intentional thing, he's pretty sure no one planned it but the number of nights he spends on Gai-sensei's couch increase as time goes by.

Gai doesn't mention it, doesn't act like it's out of the ordinarily or in anyway unexpected that Neji should spend more nights camped out in Gai's living room than he spends at the Hyuga clan compound. His room there feels increasingly bare and uninviting. Not like the cramped, barely tamed chaos of Gai's apartment.

Neji learns that Lee lives there with Gai although he doesn't think Tenten officially does. Like him though she's there more times than not, showing up for breakfast or to spend an evening on the couch talking weapon techniques with Lee or Gai.

Gai drags the coffee table into the kitchen and shows them all how to do leg stretching exercises the night after Lee pulls all the muscles in his right leg while perfecting his kick.

Tenten tries to teach Lee to dance to some awful catchy pop music Gai has a recording of for some reason Neji doesn't want to think about. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that while Lee has no natural talent he almost makes up for it in pure enthusiasm. Neji finds he has to look away halfway through because both Tenten and Lee is incandescent with happiness, hair tousled, cheeks flushed laughing so hard they have to lean on each other just to stand up.

"Neji dance with us." Tenten says wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Come on."

Neji shakes his head. "I don't dance."

"Well obviously neither do me or Lee." She makes a beckoning gesture at him. "It's not like you're going to look bad compared to the two of us and there's no one else to see."

"Yes, Neji come join us." Lee is bouncing in place a little beside Tenten. "Let the spirit of youth run free!"

Neji glares at him and yet somehow he finds himself being dragged up off the couch by the two of them.

The music is playing and Lee is bouncing up and down, brushing too close to him. There's not enough space for this in Gai's tiny living room. Yet here they are, the three of them pressed in close together with some horrible, loud over synthesized music playing in the background, none of them exhibiting any of the skill, coordination or grace they would if they'd been fighting.

It's good, even Neji will admit that.

It's not anything he expected when he was assigned to Gai's team right out of the academy. It's not anything he wanted even, but it's still good.

IV.

"Neji." Gai says when it starts to get dark out one evening.

Neji is sitting on the couch reading one of Gai's military history books, a bag with an extra change of clothes at his feet. He looks up questioningly as Gai stops in front of him.

"I think you should spend tonight in the guest bedroom." 

Neji blinks at him. "Guest bedroom?"

Gai nods and leads the way down the hall pushing open a door to show a neat if somewhat empty bedroom.

"This can be your room from now on." Gai says.

The words make a knot form in Neji's chest. Make him want to run and not stop or look back.

If this room had always existed why hadn't Gai offered it to him the first night? Why now after weeks of Neji sleeping on the couch?

He suspects this room had been used for something else and Gai, probably with Lee's help, had emptied it out and set it up specifically for Neji to live in.

Everything about that is something he doesn't want.

"I can sleep on the couch." He says turning away.

"No, you'll sleep in here tonight." Gai says his tone stern and unmovable as rock.

Neji considers walking out and not spending the night at Gai's at all, but it's late so he nods and goes to get his bag from out of the living room.

The room isn't that bad, he decides, laying on the futon, staring up at the ceiling. Most of the things in it have that old mismatched look that goes with the rest of the apartment. The pillows and blankets have a certain scent he's begun associating with Gai's apartment too. He turns his head into the pillow and inhales while trying to pretend he's not doing it.

There's the sound of movement from out in the living room. Not a lot of noise, barely any at all in fact but enough for Neji to come to full alter, body tensing for a fight.

It's nothing, he tells himself, who would be stupid enough to break into Gai-sensei's apartment? He eases off the futon anyway and moves silently to the door, pushing it open without making a sound.

From where he's standing he can angle his body to see down the hall into the living room where there is now a light on.

Kakashi Hatake is sitting on the couch. Gai is kneeling on the floor as he had the two times he'd bandaged Neji's hands.

"All right." Gai says voice a low rumble. "Let's see what the damage is this time Rival."

Kakashi pushes his flak jacket off and pulls his shirt over his head. Gai stands to get a better look at the wound on his shoulder blade.

From this angle, Neji can't really see it but it must be bad because Gai frowns deeply and says. "You should have gone to the hospital, not come here."

"It's not that bad." Kakashi's one uncovered eye is slitted half shut. "Because at the hospital they'd fuss. I figured I'd just come here and have you stitch it closed for me. I'd do it myself but, well,  it's hard to reach your own back."

"Stitches are good enough for out in the field when there is no medical nin available. But there are plenty of people here in Konoha who could actually heal this."

"Gai I'm tired." Kakashi says, something dark, edgy and desperate bleeding through the words. For a moment Neji thinks that Kakashi is a man on a cliff and Gai is the only thing standing between him and the jump.

"Sew me up or I'll just stick some gauze on it and go home to bed."

Gai stares down at him. "That is unfair Rival" He finally says in a tone of voice that would make Neji seriously reevaluate his past decisions but seems to slide right off Kakashi without impact.

Gai leaves the living room and comes back with the first aid kit and a bowl of water hot enough to steam.

Kakashi doesn't flinch or make a sound as Gai cleans wound on his back and sews it shut.

"It will scar for sure." Gai says disapproving.

Kakashi shrugs and gestures to the rest of the scars large and small decorating his torso.

Gai stands back up taking the first aid kit and dirty swabs away with him, comes back in a few minutes carrying two mugs of tea.

Gai hands Kakashi one of the cups, bending down closer than necessary as he does and tipping his face towards Kakashi's. Even though Kakashi is still wearing his mask it's obviously the set up for a kiss and Neji feels his cheeks heat.

Kakashi's hand comes up before Gai can actually kiss him.

"One of the kids is awake." He says and Neji's face goes instantly red and his heart starts hammering in his chest although whether at being called a kid or being caught spying he's not sure.

Gai says something too low for Neji to hear, a deep rumble without words and then Kakashi raises his voice.

"Neji? You want to come out and join us or go back to bed?"

Neji immediately shuts the door and leans against it, trying to make his insides settle down. He marches resolutely back to his bed and lays down staring at the ceiling through the dark. He can hear Gai and Kakashi moving around the living room almost silently but still perceptively there. It's soothing somehow. Neji is used to have many people around him at all hours to constantly be able to hear people breathing, moving, talking even in the dead of night. He doesn't mean to but eventually he drifts off to sleep.

~~~

Neji doesn't know what he's expecting the next morning. If he's honest with himself he's expecting that Gai and Kakashi spent the night in Gai's bedroom. If Kakashi had bothered to stay at all that is.

Instead, he comes down the hall and into the living room on his way to the kitchen to find Kakashi stretched out on the couch. His flak jacket, shirt, gloves, and headband are folded neatly on the floor next to his sandals. He is tucked under the same blanket Neji's been using for weeks now, still masked face mashed into Gai's pillow with the turtle pillowcase.

There's a book, _His Hidden Desires_ , open to the halfway point and laying face down on the coffee table by Kakashi's head. 

Neji turns away from Kakashi and heads through to the kitchen where Gai is up, dressed and starting breakfast in his frilly apron.

He smiles at Neji and gives him a cup of unsweetened tea.

Lee comes into the kitchen, covering a yawn with one hand. 

"Kakashi-sensei is here." Lee says as Gai hands him his own cup of tea.

"Indeed, he will be joining us for a hearty and nutritious breakfast!" Gai says. "Lee there's a protein shake in the refrigerator if you want it."

Lee nods eagerly and goes to pour himself a glass.

Kakashi comes into the kitchen, fully dressed but blinking sleepily with his one uncovered eye.

"Rival! What would you like for breakfast?" Gai booms at him.

"Uh ... coffee and toast?" Kakashi runs his fingers through his gray hair as if he has any chance at all of taming it.

"We have neither of those things." Gai tells him like he's passing on the best information Kakashi will hear all day. "There is green tea, eggs, rice and ham and protein shake if Lee won't mind splitting it with you."

"I do not mind sharing my protein shake with you Kakashi-sensei." Lee says all big eyes and earnestness and Kakashi holds up one hand.

"Thanks Lee but it's all right, tea will be fine."

Gai puts a mug of tea in front of Kakashi as Kakashi sits at the kitchen table.

Tenten comes in washed and dressed, looking ready to start the day.

"There's a protein shake in the refrigerator for you Tenten." Gai says.

"Thank you Gai-sensei but I think I'd prefer tea." Tenten sits in her usual spot at the table and Gai fixes her with a stern look.

"I've been noticing during train Tenten that while your form is excellent your strikes could be harder and more devastating." Gai says. "So I have devised a training routine that will help you improve your upper body strength and the effectiveness of your strikes. But in order to do this you must learn to eat more like Lee does." Gai puts a glass of protein shake in front of her.

"You can do it Tenten, I believe in you." Lee gives her an encouraging thumbs up from the other side of the table where he's downing his own shake.

Tenten takes a cautious sip, eyebrows going up in pleased surprise at the taste. She takes a much large gulp of protein shake as Gai puts bowls of food in front of all of them.

A chorus of "thank you for the food" goes around the table and Gai just smiles picking up his own bowl, which has turtles blowing heart kisses on it and sits next to Kakashi.

"I heard that you will be getting a new team of your own soon Kakashi." Gai says, between mouthfuls of rice.

Neji looks over at Kakashi curiously.

Kakashi-sensei has had teams before. All the genin know that, just like they all know that Kakashi-sensei is career suicide for any young aspiring ninja.

As much as he'd wished he'd been assigned to anyone but Gai when the teams had been first announced he'd also known it could have been worse.

Kakashi would have been worse.

No one can decide if Kakashi has too high standards after years of working with only the most elite shinobi, if he's just too odd and fickle to stick with a team for more than a few days, or if he just really hates genin.

Neji wonders morbidly who this new batch of young ninja are.

"I'll have to have the four of you over to dinner." Gai is saying enthusiastically. He gives Kakashi a friendly slap on the back that almost knocks Kakashi's mug of tea out of his hands.  

"That's probably not going to be necessary Gai." Kakashi says echoing Neji's own thoughts.

"Nonsense, this team will be different, Rival." Gai says with conviction. "I know it."

Kakashi stares down at the cup of tea in his hand. "Maybe."

When they were done eating and have piled their dishes in the sink Gai waves the three of them out of the kitchen leaving him and Kakashi to clean up.  "Lee, Neji go get dressed. We have a long day of training ahead of us."

Neji nods and heads off to his room to get dressed and put his hair back.

Lee is sitting on the couch in the living room when Neji comes out of his bedroom. He's wrapping his hands using a combination of quick one handed movements and his teeth.

"Do you want help with that?" Neji doesn't know why he asks, the words just come out his mouth.  

Lee stops and looks up at him.

"Thank you, Neji I would appreciate it." He holds out his hands and Neji takes them in his wrapping and folding the bandages downs Lee's arms and wrists, and over his hands. He puts his full concentration into doing it the way Gai had done it for him that first evening, not wanting to do it wrong now.

Lee smiles in thanks when Neji is done and flexes his fingers experimentally. "Let me do yours."

Neji doesn't want to but he can't think of a way to refuse that won't crush Lee and he won't do that. So he holds out his arms to Lee.

Lee wraps the bandages around Neji's arms, his touch strong and sure. Neji endures it while it's happening but as soon as Lee releases his hands he feels strangely bereft.  

"Let's work hard today." Lee gives him a smile and thumbs up.

Neji doesn't know how to respond so he nods and starts to turn away.

"Neji." Lee says voice gone serious enough to make Neji turn back to face him.

"I am glad you are staying here."

Of all the people Neji has expected to actually address his continued presence in Gai's apartment with words Lee had never been his top choice. He also notices the way Lee carefully says _staying_ and not _living_ here.

"When we were first assigned to Gai-sensei's team he told me I could live here with him if I wanted to. But it always seemed not quite right. He is my sensei and my junin team leader after all and junin do not have their subordinate genin living with them in their apartment. But I ..." Lee looks away, mouth pulling down in a frown of unhappiness, so out of place on his face.

Neji realizes he has no idea what Lee's living situation had been like before coming to live here. Lee might have lived with relatives who might have looked down on a young orphan without talent or any hope of being a shinobi. He might have lived on his own like Naruto in some tiny one bedroom apartment eating instant ramen alone every night. Neji is all too aware of the things have driven him to Gai-sensei's apartment night after night but nothing of what could drive Lee there as well. It makes his chest constrict a little bit with pain to think they've been on the same team for months, both all but living together in this apartment for weeks and he's never thought to ask.

"Anyway." Lee says. "With you here too it does not feel so strange. In fact when all of us are here like this it feels like home."

Neji can't help the way his entire body tenses at the word  _home_ , too close to that other word that makes the pain and rage rise up inside him like it might strangle him to death from the inside out.

And yet, it is so very much like Lee to say something like that, to feel it.

Lee's eyes are shining with how much he means it, hands clasped together looking up at Neji from the couch.

Neji looks back at him and realizes for the first time that Lee's words hadn't made him want to run.

They made him want to stay.

"Yes." He says giving Lee a small nod. "It does."  


End file.
